If you still didn’t know, we have important news. Sky Haven’s Steam page has been launched! You can find all the important updates and discussions there. We still issue devblogs although not as often as we want, but at least we answer quickly on the steam community forums and our website forum.

It took a bit more time than anticipated for all the goals that were achieved:

Multi-unit requests – DONE!

Catering – DONE!

New UI – many many windows and elements – DONE!

Even more optimization and debugging – in progress 🙂

In addition we added luggage unload and transportation (“bulk” type) from airplanes to terminal. Awesome coop of Belt Loader and Tugs & Dollies. Also tons of small fixes and improvements: ramps with mount, registration numbers on the aircrafts and many, many other fixes. Good job Real Welders. 🙂

If you still didn’t know, we have important news. Sky Haven’s Steam page has been launched! You can find all the important updates and discussions there. We still issue devblogs although not as often as we want, but at least we answer quickly on the steam community forums and our website forum.

Design

In this devblog we reveal a bit how interaction works with airlines.

There are three types of airlines in the game:

Discounter

Domestic

International

The types determine the main focus of an airline. E.g. some discounters have privilege class, but mainly they are lowcosters. Or International airlines can make domestic flights with a small airplane but mainly they use big planes for long haul flights. Discounters need few services, but a fast turnaround. International types, on the other hand, need many different services and are more focused on quality. Domestic airlines can combine options of the other two.

Each type of airline tends to use specific airplanes: wide-bodies for international, narrow-bodies for domestic and discounters. Also some domestic types can have small airplanes often and medium sized planes are usually popular with discounters.

One more difference in passengers. Discounters’ passengers don’t require much in the airport. Just some snacks and drinks and they won’t be upset much if they won’t find any. Domestic airlines have more demanding passengers. Also they have business and 1st class passengers that want something more comfortable than a snack booth. On the other hand they pay more. Finally International airlines have even more bizarre passengers, including VIPs. They require lounges, luxury cafes etc. After passenger leaves, he or she rates the airport. Rating is very important as it defines how current and new airlines will cooperate with the player.

Airline Hub

when scheduling and performing flights of a specific airline, the player gets “relationship points” for that airline. When there are enough points, new relationship level is unlocked. Each level offers challenges and benefits. Challenges consist of rating, common infrastructure (e.g. total number of gates), dedicated infrastructure (e.g. number of gates dedicated to the airline). Benefits make up more flights to the airport. Finally an airline could decide to make a hub in the airport. This will bring even more flights and passengers but also it will impact gameplay with strict requirements.

Development

Buses attracted our attention again. Some bus drivers didn’t want to deliver passengers to gates. Sometimes they even drove them directly to the garage. We have to work a bit on their navigation and motivation.

Fueling mechanics and fuel supply are almost in the final stage. Now fuel station has max amount, replenishing speed etc. If it is necessary, fuel trucks can refill their tanks. Of course all the parameters are upgradable via research.

All the vehicles now know their place on the ramp. It’s important because we plan to add even more services so there has to be order on the ramp.

We polished the look of the game. Lighting system was highly improved.

Instead of catering we decided to implement baggage handling. As it is more important in airports.

Plans

Multi-unit requests (still in progress).

Catering.

Even more optimization and debuging. As project grows we have to pay attention to this more and more.

New UI! It’s time to change prototype interface to something more fancy and convenient. However it’s still not final.

Much has happened since the last letter. First of all we took part in a conference – DevGAMM Minsk 2017. We are eager to share some interesting videos from Game Lynch (one of the events on the conference) with you. We all had lot of fun and useful feedback. Many new weird bugs as well.

Look at this landing airplane, it’s a bit strange (may be it is because we still don’t have RWY lights):

Try to find the table with a game about airports:

Design

Today we will talk about an airport zoning. All spaces in the terminal are split into zones: international, domestic, clear, common, etc. Some of these zones can overlap onto each other: Clean Domestic, Clean International, Common Domestic, etc. But some can not: impossible to have “Common International”.

Zones are formed by entrances and gateways. E.g. Security check has “Clear” zone on it’s exit, “Passport control” has “International”, etc. Of course there are several rules how to resolve instances where different gateways lead to different zones in the same area.

Zones determine which objects can be constructed. Duty free can only be in the “International” zone, Passport control – only in “Clean” zone, etc. However gates coulcand be placed in almost any zone. At the start you don’t really care about this. Only the most undemanding airlines will agree to work with you. But when you will want to cooperate with bigger companies, your airport will have to provide Security Checks and Gates in “Clean” zones. With International flights you will need Passport controls and “International” zones.

In a big multi-zoned terminal it could be pretty challenging to manage all the flows and gateways.

Development

Thanks to the DevGAMM preparation we greatly improved game stability and polished a lot. When you demonstrate a game to a fresh audience, you want to have all the small bugs cleaned. Also Game Lynch and the showcase event gave us a lot of new ideas and inspiration.

We have improved our core apron management. The system known as “Ground Units & Landed Aircrafts’ Guidance” has been cut. We have new one “Enhanced-On-Land-Guidance” instead. It much more advanced and fast. New abbreviation for the system sounds much better as well.

A lot of small but important improvements in the interface were made. E.g. new fancy zone highlighting:

Long time since we’ve given any word. We even missed(skipped) the September devblog. Though we’re still sharing a lot on our twitter. The tweet about this devblog will be #100 as a matter of fact.

First of all – important news: we are showcasing in the Devgamm conference which will be held in Minsk, Belarus. On the 17th of September we will show our first playable version of the game. So we will glad be to meet everybody who wants play and grab a couple of stickers.

Continuing on with the devblog – in the Design sections we reveal how passengers will get to an airplane within the game. In the Report sections is our first Gameplay Trailer! And in the end we share our plans and over optimistic time estimations. 😉

Design

If you have subscribed to our twitter, you may have already seen all the ways for boarding and disembarking. We have planned implementation for all the following options:

Shuttle apron buses (done)

Walkways (nearly done)

Jet bridges. Simple and complex. With one, two or even three connections.

Also there will be several types of stairs including integrated ones (such as on small jet planes)

One boarding/disembarking option is never better than another just by default. There will be a demand for each type: discounters require simple and cheap means, internationals require conveniency for their passengers. It’s the player’s choice of how and what to work with.

Report

Main result – we have a playable version. Hooray! Here is a short video:

Of course there is a lot to be polished here. Sometimes we find strange features or possible bugs. E.g. a passenger who can’t find the exit stays in the airport and live there forever like in the movie “Terminal”.

Plans

We will continue to polish and fix current features. Have you checked out our new current UI? We will make it even better. Also we will work a bit on vehicle physics and make movement more realistic.We continue to add new content based on the current core game. It means new services for passengers and airliners. And last but not least! We are finally starting to sharpen the economy balance using not only pre-planned spreadsheets but also the real game.

Despite all the raining this summer we still had enough heat from work and made some important decisions. We’ve done quite a big load of work and made some important decisions. Also our team is growing – we have a new Unity/C# developer. His participation will greatly accelerate the development. And strengthen our confidence in the release on time :).

As the development moves forward, our newsletter will be more systematic and regular. The newsletter will mainly focus on these topics:

Design – our approach, thoughts and key features.

Reports – short summary with important tasks.

Plans – what we are going to do next.

Design

Let’s start from the beginning and talk about Terminal and Apron construction.

These objects are both built in a similar way. You can use a square or poly tool. The poly tool makes it possible to build any closed shape. However, the angles are limited to 45 degree steps.

Of course all overlapping shapes will merge and form a single structure.

Another thing we would like to point out is the number of floors in the terminal. There are two floors but only one is playable (the second floor for now). It’s a bit confusing so let us explain. This is a result of a large number of tests, prototypes and discussions.

Why we need two floors?

Several reasons. Jet bridges that are attached to the first floor are looking creepy. We also need some space to separate arriving and departing passenger flows.

Why is (only) the second floor playable?

First of all two visibly working floors are expensive technically and timewise. So for now all features related to 1st floor useage will in a way we call “1st floor magic”. E.g. all inbound passengers entering the terminal through a gate on the 1st floor exterior will come out to the 2nd floor through floor connecting Arrival Exits. Arrival Exits can be placed anywhere and this gives you control of the incoming passenger flow.

At the same time outbound passengers will wait on the second floor until a departure gate will be free (by schedule).After that they will go through a gate door on the second floor and go onto the jet bridge, bus or walkway. This let us to avoid a mess at the gate door.

Internal tests and Beta will show whether or not this is a good decision.

Report

New walls(two floors) and a roof that fades in/out depending on the zoom. Separate lighting inside terminal.

Floor and apron textures + sweet grass layout generator.

Request and schedule systems. Core of the game logic. Now it’s working and makes us happy.

Passenger boarding and disembarking via walkways or buses! And passengers disembark by aircraft stairs. And everything works within schedule. It was a serious challenge but we got through with it.

Working baggage claim – luggage is moving on the belt, passengers grab it and go away. But as for now, our PAX are using shoulders and elbows for picking it up. A bit of model tuning is needed. =)

Fueling for planes is still in progress. Some final strokes to be done.

Lots of models and concepts. You can check out our twitter.

Plans

A lot of stuff was added. Now we need to fix all issues and bugs. This is the main focus for next month. After that we will happy to share a lot of videos!

This is our very first log record. Not much to say yet, but interesting things are on their way.

For now the main news is the release of our website and forum. This site will work together with our other channels to provide you with all the fresh and tasty news about Sky Haven’s development. Welcome everyone.